


Burning Rubber: Shipside Down

by Bedlamwolf



Series: Burning Rubber [2]
Category: NCIS, One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Humor, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 05:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2456651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bedlamwolf/pseuds/Bedlamwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of the Omake side stories found in Burning Rubber. Shipside Down takes place on Moby Dick. Companion piece Streetside Up takes place in New York City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wake-up Call

_**SHIPSIDE DOWN** _

**ACE POV**

The noise was what woke him up. Ace was too used to falling asleep in weird places to be very uncomfortable, despite the fact that there was something digging into his back. Groggily he thought he heard one of Luffy's friends shouting and he groaned in annoyance. It sounded like his little brother had let everyone into their apartment again, and he was  _not_  in the mood to deal with this shit. He was pretty sure that he'd been up way too late watching  _Pirates of the Caribbean_  with his brothers, and he had a test this afternoon. Speaking of college… didn't his brother have classes? No...no he was not going to get up and find out why the little idiot was at home. He was going to ignore the noise and the light and go back to sleep for a few more hours.

"Luffy! Look out! Pop green: Devil's snare!"

"Shihihihi! Thanks, Usopp!" His brother shouted.

Ace groaned, " _Luffy…_ " he threw a hand over his eyes. "Too loud."

"S'rry Ace…." Came the sleepy response from his right. He heard his brother yawn and shift around. It sounded like his little brother had kicked him off the bed again. Felt that way, too.

 _Wait a second…_  Ace was sure there was something wrong with that thought, but he wasn't quite sure what it could be. He rolled over on his side and went to push himself up a bit only to have his hand hit open space. Surprised, his eyes snapped open as he felt himself start to fall. Ace was so shocked by his surroundings he didn't even ignite as he plummeted straight down. He had to be seeing things, because there was no way someone had stuck a  _mast_  in their apartment. When he slammed into hard wood with enough force to knock the air out of him he blinked up in confusion at the sky. A sky that was partially eclipsed by sails. Rolling onto his side as he wheezed for breath he took in the wide deck, the smell of the sea, and a bunch of people running around.

"I've  _got_  to be tripping." He muttered, frowning. There was a shout, drawing his attention. His brows wrinkled at the sight of Marco airborne, held aloft by a pair of flaming wings in place of his arms. "Thatch. He must have slipped me something last night…" Because Marco flew about as well as a turkey. He was his blonde friend circle higher before dive bombing towards the deck, aiming for a short guy with dark hair, a red vest, and a straw hat. Ace stood, instantly annoyed as he recognized Luffy right before the idiot got out of the way of a powerful kick. Marco wasn't fooling around, and  _that_  pissed him off. Quickly he stormed across the deck, ignoring how it shifted under his feet slightly as it rode the water. "HEY! MARCO!" He shouted, getting the other man's attention, "What have I told you about going easy on Luffy?!"

Blue eyes narrowed as the blonde stared down at him. He crossed his arms, glaring right back. He'd shoved back his confusion over the whole situation as his friend hovered in front of him. "I thought I said not to interfere, yoi."

"Since when do you order me around, bird brain?" He snapped back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Luffy take advantage of the blonde's distraction and rush him in typical fashion. Marco saw him coming however and dodged, letting the teen's momentum take Luffy past and back onto the deck before he closed his wings and dropped, aiming a heavy kick at Luffy's back. Ace saw red, his body reacting out of years of instinct, he darted forward, bringing up both his arms in an over-the-head guard as he stood between them and took the blow. It was strong enough that his knees almost buckled. Glaring at his friend he snarled, "I can forgive you guys for sticking me on a boat somehow. I can overlook the fact that I'll miss my test, too. But one thing I  _can't_  forgive is you attacking my brother!"

Marco's eyes widened in shock as he jumped back and landed on the deck. The man warily watched him as Ace looked down at Luffy. His little brother looked a bit… off. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but it went beyond the weird clothes. The kid was giving him a strange look, too. Ace ran a hand through his hair as he huffed in annoyance, noticing for the first time that there were a lot of people watching them. He glared at them all, feeling the urge to let his flames free to let them all know just how annoyed he was.

"A-Ace?" Luffy choked out at his feet, staring at him with wide eyes.

He looked down at the teen, " _What_ , Lu?"

"No, it can't be, yoi." Marco sounded shocked, "Ace is dead."

Ace turned to glare at his friend, "Fuck you, Marco. I was sleeping. You know I still get attacks sometimes."

The blonde glared at him, "You're an impostor. You're good, but not good enough."

"What is this? Some weird-ass hazing ritual with Pops?" He turned back to his brother, "And you! I thought we agreed you would wait until you were at least eighteen before even thinking about joining up, so what the  _hell_  are you doing, Luffy?"

The teen blinked at this, a slightly wary expression on his face. "I'm nineteen."

"Good try, idiot, but in case you forgot, I'm three years older than you and I'm twenty, so that makes  _you_  seventeen."

Luffy just looked confused as he pouted before turning to Marco. "What's going on? This isn't funny, pineapple."

"No it isn't, yoi." Marco shot him a deadly look. "Explain yourself."

"I don't have to do anything." Ace crossed his arms. He almost didn't notice Zoro stomp up to him while carrying two swords. The man paused right in front of him and gave him a penetrating look. He just snorted, "What's with the eye, Zoro? Trying a new look?" The man said nothing in response, instead he swung a sword at Ace's chest which barely avoided slicing skin as it cut his shirt. "HEY!" The second sword came whipping at his side and Ace prepared to let it pass through him.

He didn't have to, however. The arm holding the sword was stopped by a tight grip just below the wrist. The next thing he knew, Luffy was between the two of them, his red and white tank top brushing against Ace's arm, giving Zoro an annoyed look even as he settled into a fighting stance.

Zoro blinked before the look in his eye hardened. "You're not Luffy."

"And you're not Zoro! Zoro would  _never_  attack my brother like that! Who the hell are you, you fake?"

"Is- is that me?" Luffy turned his head slightly just as Ace realized why his little brother had looked different. Luffy,  _his_  Luffy that is, stared in shock at the version of him that was in an open red vest and he felt his brother tense.

"Ace… I think I'm having a mystery dream."

"I think it's more of a nightmare." Someone else quipped, but he couldn't see who.

"There's two of me!" Both Luffy's shouted.

Ace winced at the sound as he turned part of his attention to his ripped shirt. "You don't have to yell, I can see that."

"What the hell is going on, yoi?

He shrugged, "Hell if I know. I  _thought_  someone might have spiked my drink last night and I was tripping."

"Tripping?"

"Yeah, you know, seeing things. I mean, last thing I remember I was watching  _Pirates_ with Luffy and Sabo, and the next thing I know I'm here." With a frown he gave up on his shirt, the thing was ruined. "I liked this shirt…" He sighed, tugging slightly and causing the rest to rip off and fall to the floor. He had to admit, the sun felt nice on his back as he rolled the kinks from his fall out.

"Shihihihi! Does this mean we're skipping classes today?"

"Well, I don't see a way back to campus, do you? Man, Sabo's gonna be pissed as hell." He turned his attention back to Marco, feeling the man's eyes boring into the center of his back. " _What?_ "

"Who the hell are you and why do you look like Ace and me?" the Luffy-that-wasn't-his asked, voice hard as he now stood before them.

Luffy looked up at him, eyes full of questions, and Ace shifted ever-so slightly, cocking his head to the side as he did so. Nothing needed to be said about not trusting these look-alikes, that was a given. Still, he wondered if letting his brother take the lead was a good idea when Luffy opened his mouth. "I'm Luffy! Luffy D Marshall-I mean Monkey. Sorry 'bout that, Ace, shihihi."

"Marshall?" Marco was right in front of him now, gripping his arm tightly. "As in  _Teach_? Did Blackbeard send you?" The look he was giving both brothers promised pain. Ace couldn't help the slight flinch he gave even as he told himself  _Teach is dead; he can't hurt us anymore. He doesn't own us- we're free…_  "Answer me, yoi!" The grip tightened painfully.

"NO! Leave my brother alone!" Luffy was between them, shoving Marco back even as the teen panted in obvious panic over the mere mention of  _that man_ … Ace didn't know if Luffy's action could be seen as progress at all.

Flames roared to life across his shoulders as he glared daggers at Marco, wishing he could hide Luffy behind his back. He couldn't, there were too many people, too many threats. He couldn't protect his brother like this, and he'd be damned if Luffy got hurt. Shoving Luffy down he lunged at the false-Marco with a snarl, wanting to kill him and let fly a powerful punch that connected with the man's jaw with a crunch. "Don't you  _ever_  mention  _that bastard's_  name around me again!"

He wasn't surprised when the blonde only rocked back slightly, eyes widening in shock before narrowing again. If the guy was  _anything_  like his Marco, a blow like that wouldn't even slow him down. "Where'd you get the Mera mera no mi, you bastard?"

"The mirror mirror…?" Luffy huffed from where he crouched at Ace's feet even as he swung around his leg like a whip towards their opponents shins. "I hate Snow White!"

"Hey! That's my devil fruit! How come fake-me has it?" came the shocked cry even as Marco dodged the blow with ease.

Luffy wasn't paying attention any longer, however, having turned and shoved his head through Ace's knees to stare at the people behind them. Of course, Ace hadn't been expecting his brother to do  _that_ , being braced to follow up the whip-like attack with a hard right hook, and nearly fell on top of his easily distracted younger sibling. "Luffy!"

"What?" Came the whining response from between his legs.

"Don't  _do_  that!" He snapped, not taking his eyes off of Marco and firmly ignoring the man's bemused expression. He'd pound it out of him soon enough.

Luffy pulled back, hands still holding tight to Ace's thighs as he looked up at the elder with a pout. "But he said he has the same Devil-fruit, Ace!" He rocked Ace's legs, demanding attention. "He  _can't_ , right?"

"WOULD YOU HOLD STILL?!" Ace snapped, glaring down at Luffy even as he thumped him in the head. "We're kinda busy, remember?"

"Ace, what are you and Luffy doing?" A yawning voice drew all eyes to what looked like a folded tarp. A second yawn and two arms were thrown into the air before dropping down dramatically. "Nosiest bro-mates  _ever_ …." Ace wasn't shocked when Sabo's head was the next thing to appear, a hand lazily scratching at his blonde hair. "Bro-mates… yeah, don't like that one either. What do you think, guys?"

There was dead silence as Sabo took in the scene before him. Blue eyes blinked, the mouth opened and closed for a second. Ace glanced down at Luffy and flushed, realizing what it  _probably_  could look like, even if Sabo knew better.  _Hell, it's not like he hasn't been caught like this before…_  Luffy, of course, didn't notice. "Sabo! Wanna join us?"

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Ace blinked, remembering that he'd kind of been in the middle of a fight. "Battling look-alikes that think they're sailors-"

"Pirates!" the shout was obviously automatic as it was bellowed from almost everyone else on deck.

"-er, pirates, apparently. Want in?" He offered his best grin.

His blonde brother just looked at them all in silence for another moment. Finally he sighed, "You know what? Forget I asked. I'm just going back to bed." and promptly flopped back down.


	2. Breathing Room

_**SHIPSIDE DOWN** _

**Marco POV**

Marco's eyes widened in shock as he felt an arm wrap around his waist before he was dragged backwards along with the interlopers. It was not a move he had been expecting to say the least, and in his surprise he didn't fight it right away. It was remarkably similar to Mugiwara gum-gum no rocket, a move he'd seen more than once but luckily never had experienced it. Feeling a wave of heat Marco turned his head to see a wall of  _actual_  fire cutting off any attempt at pursuit.

The way Maco saw it he had two options. The first was to take out these imposters now before they had a chance to regroup, which was their obvious plan. the second was to  _let_  them regroup and see if he could figure out just what the hell was going on. There was no way two people could exist with the same devil fruit powers. And if he ignored their uncanny resemblance to Mugiwara and Ace, something fishy was happening here. So he decided to go along with them for now as the smaller one of the two slowed only slightly to snatch up the blond form over by the sails before rapidly changing directions so fast it would have given Marco whiplash. They finally came to a stop inside his own cabin, ironically.

"What the hell is he doing here?" The Ace-imposter snapped out, shoving Marco as the blond, _Sabo was it?_ , closed the door. "Luffy, Why'd you grab him?"

"Accident-look-s-l-k-Ma-co-!" The boy panted, hands on his knees. He glared up at the other.. "-K?"

"Ace, knock it off, now's not the time to be arguing about it anyway. Just… watch him." Marco watched as the blond knelt by the smallest, gently feeling his flushed skin, brows creased with worry. "He's burning up. Lu, you know you're not supposed to do that anymore. Sit down, alright. Deep breaths. Can't have you passing out now. Not in the middle of an adventure."

Marco raised an eyebrow, looking down at the youth who was now sitting on the edge of his bed. The one who was supposed to be guarding him kept interspersing his glares with worried glances over his shoulder towards the teen as well. "He doesn't look so good, yoi."

Grey eyes snapped back to his face , and once again he was taken back by how much the guy looked like Ace- his Ace. "He'll be fine. Mind your own business!"

"Or what?" He smirked, "In case you haven't realised, you can't hurt me."

"Maybe not  _permanently,"_  the smirk was returned with a feral look as the would-be-Ace held up a burning hand, "but I bet being burnt alive is still going to hurt like hell. Even if you  _do_  heal right away."

Suddenly these fakes weren't so amusing anymore. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"Only if it has to be." He had to admit, the brat had guts, standing chest to chest with him like that.

"Knock it off, the both of you!" The blond snapped, "This  _isn't_ going to help us figure out what the fuck is going on Ace!"

"Stay out of it, Sabo."

"Shove it. You've never burned someone  _alive_  in your life, and I'm not about to let you start now. Especially some dude who looks like the feather-head, alright? We all need enough therapy as it it, brother." Sabo's attention wasn't on either of them as he spoke. Instead, he was poking around the room. Looking in the closet her cheered, "Perfect! A little short, but better than nothing, eh?" before yanking out the metal rod that held up Marco's clothes.

He felt his eye twitch. "Could you try not to destroy the place, yoi?"

"Sorry, but I need this." the blond sat with a grin on his bed, rummaging in a pocket and pulling out a roll of something before wrapping it around the ends and middle of the pole.

The youngest reached out to touch it and the pole was moved out of his reach. "Is that that stuff Abby sent? The coral-tape?"

"Yeah. Haven't had a chance to test it yet, but...better than nothin' right?"

"Coral tape?" Marco didn't like the sound of that. He especially didn't like the grin the fake-Ace got when he happily took the pole and jabbed one of the ends into his chest. Instantly he felt his powers drain and he glowered at them. "Kairoseki." He growled.

"Ciro-what?" Dark brown eyes blinked at him, head cocked to the side before the false-Mugiwara looked between the others. "Does it work?"

"I think it does." The darker haired one replied, tentatively touching the middle strip with a hiss, "Yeah. Not as strong as some of the shit, but you stay away from it, Lu." Grey eyes met his own blue, "I don't wanna have to use this on you."

"Liar." Marco snatched at the pole, catching the young man off guard. He expected him to fight for control of the weapon and he did for a time. "Who sent you? The marines?  _Blackbeard_?" A flinch, just like before, and he shoved harder, "You work for that traitor, don't you? What did he offer you, 'Ace'?"

"NOTHING!" the raw rage and pain in his voice startled Marco slightly, but he didn't loosen his grip. " _Nothing_  but pain! Day in, day out! And I  _couldn't_  say no, because he'd hurt  _Luffy! Why_  don't you people  _get it?_  There was no choice! There was no way  _out!_  We did what we had to to  _survive_!" Flames danced uselessly along the young man's back, but instead of lashing out like Marco expected, they faded almost as quickly as they formed.

"ACE!" Sabo grabbed him, uncaring about the flames and amazingly not getting burned, "Ace, look at me. Look. It's ok. Give me the pole. Let go. It's ok."

"Sabo?" He sounded dazed.

"You were having an attack. It's alright." Slowly the dark haired young man released the pole and the blond looked at Marco, silently asking if he was going to be a problem. For a moment he thought about challenging him for control over it, but even without it, he could easily take them. Lazily he let go, eyes sliding up and behind the two men were the youngest still sat on the bed. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be shaking slightly, gaze fixed on nothing. Something was seriously wrong with both of the imposters. "Go sit with Luffy, yeah?"

"Lu? Luffy….you alright?"

"Ace, I wanna go home…." There was no way that was Mugiwara, but it was still disturbing to see him cling to 'Ace'. It reminded Marco too much of when they'd lost Ace… and there was no faking the pain in those shoulders that held the small body close.

Sighing he turned to the one called Sabo, "I think we have some things to talk about, yoi."

"I'd say so." The other blond replied with a sloppy grin that did nothing to hide his obvious nervousness.


	3. Into the Fire

_**SHIPSIDE DOWN** _

**LUFFY POV**

Luffy swallowed nervously as Ace slowly edged open the door. Not that long ago he would have thought running around on a ship full of people that looked like his friends but weren't was a fun adventure. Now, now it was just kinda scary. His glanced over at the man who looked like  _their_  Marco, only to find him smirking at him. He looked away quickly.  _I just wanna go home._  He wasn't a fool, out of the three of them,  _he_  was the weak link right now. All Luffy could do was go along with Sabo's plan.

The conversation had started out calmly enough, considering he had accidentally snatched up the Pirate - guy and Ace had already threatened to barbecue the pineapple head. Pineapple wanted to know where they were from. Sabo, since he kept his cool better (which was a lie, he just hid stuff better) answered that they were from New York City as Ace edged open the door.

Those lazy blue eyes finally stopped focusing on him. "What island?"

Ace actually snorted as he pulled his head back in, "You fucking kidding? Manhattan Island."

"Everyone knows that, though, right?" Luffy asked, suddenly worried at the blank look they were getting. He looked between his brothers, trying to bury the rising panic.

"Never heard of it, yoi." The man frowned at them. "What sea is it in? East, South, North, West Blue, Grand Line or New World?"

"Blue? Grand Line? New World?" Sabo sputtered, "What on earth are you..? I don't..."

"Sabo?" Luffy didn't like this.

"Lu, Luffy, it's going to be ok. I... I just... don't think I know where we are right now." Sabo was quick to wrap him in a calming hug, seeing the panic attack coming before it even began.

"Quit messing around, yoi. Your little  _act_ isn't fooling me." The pineapple head snapped. "You're on the Moby Dick in the New World." His eyes turned hard and he reached out towards Luffy, "Now tell me why you're here before I hurt your little friend here."

"We don't know!" Ace snapped, "What do you want to hear? That we - I - woke up in your rigging? That's the honest truth! Now leave Luffy alone!"

"Stop calling him that. He's not Mugiwara."

Sabo continued to rub his back, "Don't even know who that is…" was muttered into his hair.

"I just wanna go  _home_ , Sabo."

"Do you trust me?" It sounded like a dumb question, but he knew that Sabo meant he was planning on doing something that would probably be dangerous and stupid. But Luffy also knew Sabo had a plan.

"With my life."

"Ace? You with me on this?"

"I got your back. Just try not to get us killed."

Letting go of Luffy Sabo offered up on of his dangerously brittle smiles, "No promises, mate. Now then, Mr. Not - Marco, this has turned into something of a hostage situation, yeah?" The pole pressed hard against the man's chest, Sabo's eye's going cold, "You're the hostage, in case there was any confusion."

"Pathetic. I could take you in my sleep, yoi."

"And I could crush your windpipe and bash your skull in right now. If you're anything like  _our_  Marco you can't recover while touching this coral, so I'm willing to bet it'd kill you. But if you don't believe I'd do it, try me. No bloke threatens my little brother and gets away with it."

None of them were surprised when the blond's eyes narrowed at the threat. His hand snapped out, either to disarm Sabo or possibly to attack. Whatever his plan was, Luffy's brother was more than ready for him. The pole whipped up, around and down, the tapped part hitting the grasping hand with a bone shattering crack before continuing it's arc, bringing the other end up to smack away the second hand before the point rested between those now widened blue eyes.

"March, asshole. An' keep your fingers to yourself." Sabo growled menacingly, forcing their captive to turn and exit the room. It wasn't long before people started to notice them, of course. Sabo continued forcing their hostage forward with painful jabs, seeming to ignore everything else. Not that he was. Still, he barely moved his head as someone swung a sword at him and didn't even bother to look as Ace spun the attacker around before slamming him face first into the deck. "Try not to kill anyone, Ace."

"He started it."

Luffy glanced around, noticing that somehow Sabo had managed to get them almost back to where they'd started. It didn't feel much like a good plan so far, but he really  _did_ trust his brother. Most of the time.

"Alright! Listen up ya gits, cause I'm only gonna be saying this once!" Sabo slowly walked around their captive, being sure to keep the pole in contact with him as he offered a smile to the gathered crowd. "My name is Sabo. Sabo Gol-Monkey. My brothers and I would like to negotiate; seeing we have the upper hand, I think it's in your best interest to cooperate. Don't you agree?"

The next thing Luffy knew was that there was a sudden flash of light and Ace had shoved Sabo out of the way of what was definitely some kind of attack. He didn't even wait for the order, diving into the crowd towards where his gut told him the attack had come from, the smell of ozone growing thicker. Everything flashed white.

"LUFFY!"


End file.
